


Stan

by Plasmatic



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, I PROMISE THIS TIME, Pearlina, Social Media, Stan - Freeform, Yes I am rewriting, and fourth chapter probably won't be fluffy, but imma make it real fluffy on fourth chapter!, but it starts of with angst ok : c, i hate myself for making this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2020-09-07 12:42:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20309683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plasmatic/pseuds/Plasmatic
Summary: Marina gets tired of the hate on her best friend and decides to make a Pearl stan account to spread the love. The only problem is that she starts to fall in love instead! OOPS.(A fluff story, but starts with angst).





	1. The Concert

**Author's Note:**

> Literally, I am seething in rage with how dumb I am for thinking of this idea. I tried numerous times to rid this evil portion of my mind away from this topic, yet the overwhelming sense of defeat drove me far enough for me to write my first long story of Pearlina, I am so sorry. I saw floral’s masterpiece and thought, NOO I need to cheer up so I made this in like an hour, but this is even angstier so I hate myself even more.
> 
> No offense to stans, Im a massive stan for them both too. ok please thank you and enjoy this first chapter (even though it’s angst).

Marina couldn’t hide her smile this time, much like the last four concerts they had performed together, as the duo walked with hands intertwined together upon the stage to start their final concert for the summer. It had become a bit of tradition for the both of them to lock hands, since their very first concert together when Marina was hyperventilating so badly that Pearl had to hold the poor Octoling’s hand for the entire show, (just so that her tentacles wouldn’t pop out of her hoodie, nothing else).

The screaming of Inklings and Octolings alike could be heard from miles away as the audience had finally caught sight of the two girls skilfully manoeuvring onto the platform. This was predicted to be their largest concert yet; maybe even the largest concert Inkopolis has ever seen, and it certainly felt like it as the taller girl caught sight on just how many people were watching. Thousands of eyes were staring at the pop duo, most were solely on the younger girl, and the feeling of eyes burning on her body rendered her flustered for a few powerless seconds. Marina squeezed Pearl’s hand in sudden nervousness; worrying thoughts were echoing across her worrying head... 

Pearl protectively squeezed back, as she soothingly glided her thumb upon the back of the Octoling’s hand. This always helped Marina calm down and this was no exception, as the inkling felt her duo’s exhales slow down into soft breaths of anticipation. After a few seconds of Marina’s slow breaths encompassing the stage, they both smiled to each other, their eyes staring into each other’s before blasting the tunes; not even an introduction was necessary for this finale round.

It was going perfectly until she heard jeering; the sudden sound snapped Marina’s head angrily to look for the perpetrator. How dare they do that! Pearl was doing so amazing in those pretty clothes, and she sounded so beautiful - this was her best song! Marina averted her eyes to look at her duo, she was smiling brightly, yet her trembling eyes betrayed her looks; the anger in the Octoling’s big hearts only swelled from there. All the Octoling wanted to do is walk down to them and... and...

Before she even knew it, she was being dragged by Pearl out from the stage. The sudden nature of it jolted all thoughts of genociding those haters away... they still had one more song left! Marina was about to scream in the inkling’s ear about how stupid she must be to forget their classic; but then she saw the girl wiping something from her eye.

She’s ... crying? Wait, Is she crying?

The sniffles from the smaller girl answered her doubtful questions as fire littered her burning body; it felt so surreal for the octoling... Marina, in her five years of knowing Pearl, had never ever seen her best friend show one sign of weakness; as if she was unreachable. Yet here she was, trying to cover her tears with her hand as she stomped. The entire time, Marina was holding her hand, while her hearts were breaking into threes and threes again; the only emotion that the Octoling could feel was... rage.

Marina tried interlocking her fingers with Pearl, but the inkling wouldn’t allow her to do such a thing, as she only tugged her hand away and power walked to their house, away from Marina... away from her best friend. A choked sob emerged from Marina as the intense battle in her head reached new heights; she didn’t know what to do. Should she talk to Pearl about it? Should she let Pearl be alone to think? Should she comfort her about it? Marina really was lost... and scared.

She was so scared; Pearl would teasingly say that she never cried in her entire life, and Marina would just scoff at her, and now she doesn’t know what she should do, now that she IS crying. The Inkling would always wrap her arms around the Octoling and whisper comforting things when she was down, but even Marina felt down. Everything was going perfectly until it wasn’t. She looked up to see the house towering over the Octoling, the door wide open for her.

She stepped into the house, awaiting any sort of noise inside the mansion, but only the silence enamoured the entirety of the house, causing Marina’s hearts to churn; Pearl was never this quiet, never. She walked through rooms where she usually was present in; the kitchen, the lounge, the studio... but no sign of her bubbly partner was found. Finally, she walked (just as quietly) to the last place she would be, outside her best friend’s bedroom door, where she would be blasting metal music when tired, She put her ear on the door.

She was greeted by hopeless crying.

Hearing Pearl cry felt like a new experience to her already struggling hearts; she wasn’t supposed to cry! Marina, in her flurry of emotions, tried opening the barricade between both girls so she could soothe the poor girl crying her soul out through the door; yet she soon realised it was locked. The Octoling was left to suffer, hearing the sounds of her best friend gulping down tears... and she hated it.

She hated she couldn’t do anything about it; how she would act like such a BABY in front of Pearl, and she would ruffle her tentacles while telling her how amazing she really was. And now it was the other way round, and all Marina can do is sniffle up into a ball outside her door, begging internally that she’d stop crying!

She laid there, hoping she’d open the door for her, but after a few quiet minutes, she didn’t. Marina wiped early tears from her eyes, coming to the conclusion she fell asleep, however she stayed motionless; thinking of what she should do. For one of the very first times in her life, Marina didn’t know... as an Octarian, she was suppose to know what to do in any situation, but her mind failed her at this very moment.

Suddenly, a thought came to light

It was so stupidly childish; only a thing a 12 year old inkling fangirl would do... but she knew how happy Pearl was when the inkling pointed them out in the comments of their posts. Why was she even thinking this again? Oh yeah, to help her bawling friend that she can’t even go up to as a person. She got up quietly, her own crying degrading away to just soft sniffles as she approached the laptop on her desk.

She was going to do absolutely anything to see her friend smile; even if it is becoming a thing she had feared the most from any fan she had met...

Becoming a stan.


	2. Usernames And Passwords

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marina ventures into a new journey into becoming a stan, but first she needs to go through the basics. Who knew it would be so difficult?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS is a rewrite. A very slow rewrite. This is also an update. A very slow update. I will probably update this tommorow and fix chapter 2 more.

The first – and fortunately the only – time she saw the danger of one of these “stans” was a long time ago; back when "Into The Light" was in production. 

She distinctly remembered the moment – Marina was upstairs, struggling to find her DJ equipment. She had just found the tabletop, until she suddenly hears her Pearlie cackling from downstairs for a worrying three minutes. When Marina came tumbling down the stairs to see if her Pearlie was alright, she found her splattered upon the floor choking in coughs and struggling to breathe. Her phone was also next to her, cracked from the demons inside of that screen.

Her eyes glowered in anger at the memory... those evil stans! 

When Pearl explained what they had done, Marina couldn't get any angrier. Pearl had tried her hardest to explain what a joke was, but Marina knew better. They tried to kill Pearlie! She knew these ‘laughing’ tactics were secretly assassination attempts; she’s read all about it in the Octoling action books! 

"Anyway, if Pearl starts choking, I’ll be there to save her again...” she thought to herself. 

It wasn't the first time Marina had saved Pearl from death; once she almost choked to death when Marina removed all the pulp in her drink – Marina was more confused than worried when her Pearlie was struggling to breathe; how you could even choke on a drink without pulp? 

But enough of unnecessary violent thoughts... she had her best friend to cheer up. 

The Octoling got to work.

She quickly logged on and immediately typed in Squitter; the place where the attempted murder allegedly took place... 

The Octoling had heard off all the terrible deeds that were performed on this site from multiple lessons in the Octo Canyon. They had dedicated hours over how the brainwashing schemes of Squitter caused Squids to become crazy and delusional. Pearl was lucky to have survived. 

But now this was something she had to do. She had once seen the brightness in her eyes as she mindlessly scrolled down and down for hours at a time, and now she missed seeing that smile more than ever. 

It loaded up instantaneously, and the sudden white and blue light jumping into view blinded her for a few seconds. Marina shielded her eyes in fear, and hissed at her screen; they were already trying the brainwashing techniques! Thank cod Marina was an expert at technology...

After a few seconds of Marina’s cowering, she peeked her eyes open at the computer screen and stared blankly at the mess; it looked pretty... normal. She hesitantly darted her eyes at all the confusing buttons on the screen, confused about all the words present. “Sign up?”

Where were the hands? She distinctly remembered the demonstration where the computer turned sentient and attacked an Octoling with its wire-constructed hands, after they had clicked upon the website. Now all she can see was a confused mess of words.

She took one hand off her face to drag the mouse to the registration button, and she was greeted by another link, resulting in Marina letting out a quiet shriek, and to quickly bring both hands to her eyes once again. She wasn’t scared! Just... dubious about all the ‘genocide’ that had been said to occur on this social media. 

Once she got the courage to take her hands off, she squinted at the computer screen; it was asking for a username and password. Marina smiled confidently; now this was her type of area! She knew all about this from her chat room!

Marina started to reminisce about when Pearl taught her about making her own chat room; she remembered feeling Pearl's warm body snuggling ever so closely next to hers with her ticklish breath. She remembered how Pearl put her hand on top of hers to drag the mouse to the right places. When she- 

Her eyes started bulging once she realised what she was saying; she loved IT... not Pearl ... not her...

She shook her head to herself as she stared at the first box.

  
_Username_  
[ ____________ ]  


And already the Octoling’s head was lost; she couldn’t think off any names from her head? She was the smartest student in Octo Valley at one point, and she couldn’t think off anything? She grumbled some Octarian profanity at herself, as she stared at the screen emotionlessly. She looked down at the other two boxes...

  
_Password_  
[ ____________ ]  


  
_Email Address_  
[ ____________ ]  


She sighed contently – these weren’t as hard as making a username...

Her hands hovered over the keyboard for a vulnerable few seconds, thinking of Pearl hugging a tear stained pillow; bringing more confidence in the Octoling, as she started typing in nonsense Octarian words until they hit the password limit. 

She huffed cockily; only a genius like Marina Ida could think of such a powerful password. Six long hard years of struggling in the military comes down to create this password. She started imagining hearing Pearlie’s cute laughter ringing from upstairs in her bedroom after a few days of Marina mastering the stan language. “Watch and learn Inklings, here’s a real Stan for you guys!” She looked up to the screen, letting out a horrible gasp in the progress.

“Weak! My password is weak!” Marina couldn’t believe what words were painted in red, right in front of her very eyes. The Octoling wanted to snap the laptop in two, but instead all the anger went to her bottom lip, which was severely losing a battle against two sharp sets of teeth. How dare they challenge Marina like this; she wasn’t weak! She could... make breakfast in record time and create an entire Splatoon map!

She dejectedly typed an email address; grumbling even more profanity to herself. 

Marina decided to go back to usernames, before she got any more crazier. She was already flushed with embarrassment at her failings, and she feared for the further mistakes she was going to make going down this wobbly path. 

A few minutes later and she hadn't touched the keyboard once. She was completely unfocused on the blanks painting her screen, instead thinking about the entire ordeal again and again and again. She was worried about what her Pearlie was doing inside the room, and she was even more worried about what her Pearlie was going to do tommorow. 

'Maybe it's better if I go check on Pearl,' Marina thought to herself as she rose out of her chair, quietly heading upstairs with her computer to check on her duo partner. She internally prayed that Pearl would have opened her door while Marina was downstairs, or maybe that she was awake at least so she could hear her own knocking. 

Marina stood outside Pearl's door for a few seconds, almost hoping that Pearl would open the door right then, hoperfully from hearing Marina's own footsteps. 

It stayed closed however, so Marina's Plan B came to effect. She put her hands on the doorknob, slowly rotating it anti-clockwise. 

Marina cursed – it was still locked. 

What was she even thinking? Marina should know that she should give Pearl some space, especially since that's what Pearl does when Marina is going through an existential crisis... before Pearl pours her adoration over Marina and tells her why she is the best Octoling she could have ever met. ****

**Marina needs to make this account.**

She needs to also pour out her OWN heart, and tell her how much she looks up to her Pearlie. She wants to make her happy, but how could she when she can't even think of a password! She grumbled to herself at the absurdity of passwords. 

After a few more seconds of waiting, she realised that it was useless. Pearl was most definitely asleep, and if she wasn't, she was most definitely unwilling to talk to Marina about it. Marina let out an exasperated sigh as she walked towards her own bedroom. 

She sat down at the foot of her bed, taking in what spiralled down again at once. It was truly an awful day, but she has to make a positive from this! She has to make Pearl happy! 

Her eyes flowed confidentially as she opened her laptop, where the website was already loaded up to her, almost as if it were waiting for Marina to type. She smiled to herself, as random strings of words bounced around her imaginative mind. 

This was going to be a long night.


	3. Showtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marina finally figures out a username and password. Then she starts venting about herself WHAT.

Long breaths later and Marina was already laying on her bed, with her computer resting on her lap. Every once in a while, she would turn towards the door in her room, hoping to see Pearl's silhouette; yet she would never come out. 

It didn't help that Marina was trying to come up with a username; especially since all that was on her mind was internal prayers that her roommate didn't decide to jump off her window and start a tribe in the jungle (just like in the movies).

It took her a further 20 minutes until she had found a username. It was perfect: it was catchy, short and – most importantly – spicy. 

She stared at her username in pride: The fateful name which will soon make Pearl do those adorable smiles and fall into heaps of cute giggling... 

_QueenPearlie_

Once she had first thought of it, she had quickly smashed the letters onto her keyboard until the name was engraved like a signature onto the computer screen, and she couldn't help but lighten up in joy from the wit of it.

She remembered how many Inklings would teasingly call her that whenever she wore that crown on her head; either in their concerts, or on the streets - and Marina definitely remembered how her eyes would gleam whenever she heard that silly name, and how she would hide her cute smile with her cute, oversized jumper.

Personally, she though that it was the greatest nickname of all time.

"Sorry Swim Shady," Marina remarked, " your nicknames are no match against mine."

The Octoling looked on proudly, now Pearl would definitely see this! The green tick next to the name was most probably secretly praising Marina on how great her imagination was... and she herself couldn’t suppress a smile of fondness over the name.

Her eyes moved down, to see the word "password" in block capitals. 

It still bugged Marina over the edge, especially over how her first password sustained the “weak” status; she tried out a few more words: “pearliscool”, “iloveyoupearl”, “pearlissexy”... weak. She let out a defeated sigh (along with a very heavy blush) – she didn't want to stop anytime.

She must have written at least 50 weak passwords until a normal one came; she was slowly zoning out, and she was almost writing anything she would remember until the green bar of light finally came onto the screen. She couldn’t help but let out a victory screech, as she imagined helicopters with hundreds of cameras from all across Inkopolis - coming into view to watch the moment a normal password had finally unlocked itself.

...that’s until she realised she didn’t even know what the password actually was.

She grumbled frustratingly, as she clicked on the “show password”, internally hoping it was something obvious.

Password: Uemuejyehyeghndynsynunsyblfocndun

Marina screamed at the computer screen.

****

~~~

She had FINALLY found one.

It took a while of slow and tedious typing, and Marina almost felt like giving up from the number of times the red light shined onto her eyes.

But this time the light was orange, and Marina let out a long sigh of relief. Her hands were aching from the amount of words she had typed; luckily, she kept the password visible, so she knew she was typing something meaningful.

__

Password: Pearl_Is_My_World

A teal blush stained her already burning face, as the Octoling hid her flushed cheeks with her hands in embarrassment. She couldn't believe what she had typed: What was she thinking? What would Pearl think about this? What would anyone in Inkopolis think about Marina having a password like that?

She was already hovering her hands over the background, yet – repressed underneath all her hearts – was a deep adoration for the password. In the end, Pearl really was her world; she was the one who changed Marina’s entire life, she taught her how to speak Inkling, and she was the first and only person to get past her shy nature and accept her... she was her first friend ever!

And without Pearl, she would’ve been some lost and forgotten girl – probably hanging out alone in the same street where she slept on the pavement, not being able to speak to anyone but herself. 

Thank cod she met the inkling. 

She snapped out of her moment, quickly lurching her hands away from the backspace. 

After checking whether her Pearlie's silhouette was by the door (to no avail), she hesitatingly stared at all the details in front of her screen, before staring at herself through the reflection of the screen... she was really about to do this: secretly stanning her best friend on the Internet; going head over heels for the Inkling; and screaming her love for her. What a life-changing childish moment in her life. 

And she already knew that she would love every moment of it.

Before she accepted her life into Squitter, she paused. All at once, daunting worries – which she had repressed for the longest time – exploded from within. What would Pearl think about stans? What would Pearl say about them?

What would Pearl think if she found out that she was one of them?

Her skin shuddered at the realisation; Pearl would be creeped out completely if she finds this out. She would break Off the Hook and call Marina a weirdo... a stalker. She found herself moving the cursor to close the tab, as the demeaning thoughts rolled in...

Would she be good at... stanning? She basically didn’t know half the “slang” the internet loved to use. Cod, she didn’t even know how to make a normal password for 20 minutes! 

As if there were a devil upon her shoulder, soothing words suddenly flooded her thoughts, drowning out her inner worries. 

She had to do this for Pearl. Marina wanted her duo partner to know that there were people that adored her, and what better way is there than joining the people who love her?

She looked at her reflection one last time, giving herself a smile of hope, before clicking "join" on her screen. 

It was showtime.

**Author's Note:**

> I know it’s angst right now; but ya have to wait for the very next chapters becuase I have ideas on how to make it more fluffy. Also be free to correct spelling mistakes or anything becuase I haven’t proofread.
> 
> I appreciate kudos, and I’ll try update this daily !!


End file.
